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New York Times Online Article LBC #2

To: triumphs@autox.team.net
Subject: New York Times Online Article LBC #2
From: Jon & Susan <jsmessier@mail.earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 07 Jun 2002 21:53:40 -0500
Hello listers,

While at work today, one of my co-workers alerted me to the following 
articles from the NY Times; thought I would share and pass them along to you.

Jon
==================================

New York Times Online
June 7, 2002

BEYOND REPAIR
The Mechanic's Guide to British Roadsters
British cars are, unfortunately, the sum of their parts. Here are a few 
particularly troublesome ones.

GAUGES
The Smiths gauge offers only vague suggestions of actual performance. 
Speedometer and fuel gauge needles gyre wildly when they can be persuaded 
to move at all. Ken Lemoine of Framingham, Mass., said his freshly restored 
1965 Morris Mini Minor Traveller indicated 75 miles per hour at a dead 
stop, until the speedometer needle fell off, obscuring his view of the 
equally inaccurate fuel gauge.

S.U. CARBURETORS
There's a reason many British cars that once had twin carburetors made by 
Skinner Union (better known to collectors by its initials) are now fueled 
by a single, reliable non-S.U. model. Getting S.U.'s synchronized is a 
black art. Some veterans simply hold a section of garden hose up to the 
carbs and listen for the correct balance.

WIRE WHEELS
While wire wheels are attractive, they need regular maintenance or disaster 
is inevitable. Failure to regularly check on wear in the hubs and splines 
can lead to clunking, out-of-round wheels and, in extreme cases, loss of a 
wheel at speed. Failure to regularly tighten each of the many spokes is 
also asking for trouble.

BODY PARTS
In a process that extended well into the 1960's, British sheet metal was 
virtually hand-formed by panel beaters using a shaping tool called the 
English wheel. While the finished products are works of art and the 
white-haired craftsmen look great in Rolls-Royce ads invoking ancient 
traditions, no two body parts are alike. The restorer is reduced to 
pounding the replacement bits into place with a sledgehammer.

SEALS
It's funny that a country where it is constantly raining can't make an 
effective seal. Oil seals on British engines leak copiously. Convertible 
tops admit miniature geysers from every joint, and water pours past the 
trunk rubber to turn any precious cargo into a sodden mess. "Why don't the 
British make computers? Because they couldn't find a way to make them leak 
oil."

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